Donald Fehr says NHLPA amenable to 50-50 split, but only if current contracts honored in full

NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr, flanked by players that include Sidney Crosby (second from left) briefs the media on the latest developments in the NHL labor dispute.The Associated Press

NHL Players Association executive director Donald Fehr said one of the proposals the union made Thursday would have satisfied the NHL's desire for a 50-50 split of hockey-related revenue right from the start.

The offer the NHL made on Tuesday featured no salary rollbacks, but players would have lost money paid in escrow.

“The players offered to make real concessions in terms of reducing their share of HRR, with some small degree of protection,'' Fehr told reporters at the meetings in Toronto. “The players don't see any reason to take less in terms of dollars.''

Fehr said the first offer would hit 50-50 in three years (players received 57 percent of revenues in the recently expired CBA), the second would reach 50-50 by the fifth year and the third would hit 50-50 immediately, but only if owners honor all current contracts at 100 percent.

Daly, in a statement, said: "The so called 50-50 deal, plus honoring current contracts proposed by the NHL Players’ Association earlier today is being misrepresented. It is not a 50-50 deal. It is, most likely a 56- to 57-percent deal in Year One and never gets to 50 percent during the proposed five-year term of the agreement. The proposal contemplates paying the Players approximately $650 million outside of the Players’ Share. In effect, the Union is proposing to change the accounting rules to be able to say ‘50-50,’ when in reality it is not. The Union told us that they had not yet ‘run the numbers.’ We did.”

Fehr said the league's offer would reduce players' salary by 12.3 percent, which the union considers unfair.

“If that's their best offer, why in the world did we see it four weeks into a lockout?'' Fehr said.